Rebuilding the engine - what parts to use?

[oldeskewltoy]

Look at the front of the 4AGE engine.... the camshafts are set at a specific gap from the crankshaft. Part of this gap is a 1.2mm head gasket. By using a thinner head gasket the gap is narrowed. The timing belt is NOT shorter, that means for the timing belt to now engage the timing gear, the timing gear has to be moved. Moving the cam gear to accomodate the narrower gap tosses cam timing off. There was a recent article in one of the Peterson publishing group magazines testing if this really had an effect. They tested on a Eclipse turbo... and sure enough, the narrower head gasket did bump compression, but cam timing change. the net result I believe was a 1.6hp LOSS!


Apolan - no worries... the rings will hold the pistons in their bores. Amazing how much resistance rings actually add. And on that note... BE careful!!!! a nick in the crank journal caused by a rod bolt is COMMON! Once you have the cap off... IMMEDIATELY fit rubber hose over each rod bolt... this will prevent any damage if the rod end should slip a bit and hit the crank

Concerning reusing rod bolts/nuts... I refuse to do it... but I understand your need. Use the factory torque spec... and keep your fingers crossed

You can NOT refit new bolts unless the rod is out of the engine...